Pope Francis proclaimed an Extraordinary Missionary Month in October 2019 and placed it under the theme
Baptized and sent: the Church of Christ in mission in the world”.
He invites all the baptized to live this time in four dimensions: the encounter with Jesus, missionary witness, formation in mission and missionary solidarity. Throughout this month we invite you to discover some missionary testimonies of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa.
Today, we present to you the portrait of Sr. Marie André du Sacré Coeur (1899-1988) who lived her missionary life as a woman apostle for the defense of women’s rights.
Sister Marie André du Sacré Cœur had a doctorate in law when she entered our Congregation in 1922. Thinking that her studies in law would not be useful in Africa, how wrong she was!
Just after her perpetual vows, she was sent to help the Missionaries of Africa understand the situation of women in West Africa. They were particularly concerned about forced marriages. She visited various communities on horseback or by a three-wheeled car and took four years to make a serious inquiry into the condition of African women in West Africa.
From 1949 to 1965, she studied the situation of women in West and East Africa, during six journeys that took her to English-speaking and French-speaking African countries. She participated in various congresses in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.
She was appointed to the Commission on the Status of Women in New York and, as such, was able to support certain United Nations resolutions in favor of women.
She worked all her life to know the living conditions of African women in different countries and she fought against structural injustice, intolerance, violence, implementing all that she could to change legislation and influence decision makers.
